Improvement in switch-alarms



2 S heets-Sheet 1.

A. E. GARRATT. Switch-Alarms.

Patented March 31,1874.

M K A UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

` ALFRED C. GARRATT, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN SWITCH-Amasus.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 149,112, (lated March3l, 1874; application tiled November 15, 1873.

To all 'whom it may concern Be itknowu that I, ALFRED C. GARRATT, ofBoston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, haveinvented certain Improvements in Railroad- Switch Alarms, of which thefollowing is a specification:

Figure l of the accompanying drawing is a front view of my improvedrailwayswitch alarm with the case removed. Fig. 2 is a top view of thesame at one-half the scale of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a transverse verticalsection of the same with the case attached, taken in line .1v y, and ofthe same scale as Fig. l.

The object of the present invention is to provide a reliable andeffective method of giving and continuing an alarm while a railwayswitchis open, and notifyingthe operator, both when he opens and closes theswitch, when the mechanism is partly run down, to warn' him ofthenecessity of immediately attending to the winding of the mechanismbefore leaving the-switch. Myinvention consists, mainly, in arailway-switch provided with a series of mechanical devices, arrangedAand operated, as will be hereinafter more fully described, incombination with clock mechanism and a bell or bells, so that when theswitch -lever is carried forward to open the switch it shall, at theproper time, cause the clock mechanism to be set in operation, andstrike a bell so long as the switch is open. This invention alsoconsists in a railway switch provided with a series of mechanicaldevices arranged and operated, as will be more fully explained in duecourse, in combination with clock mechanism and a bell or bells, so thatwhen the clock mechanism is partly run down an alarm is struck as theswitch-lever is carried forward to open, or brought back to close, theswitch, to warn the operator of the immediate necessity of attending tothe winding of the clock mechanism, all of which I will now proceed moreparticularly to describe.

In the drawings, A represents the sills or bottom ,supports of aswitch-frame, having vertical standards A', connected by a cross-beam,A, located at a suitable height, and provided with a circular or othershaped plate or washer, a, to support the lower portion, and allow theturning of a switch vertical shaft, B, curved or otherwise properlyformed at the bottom to con nect with the ordinary switch-lever.Supported by the vertical standards A are top plates A, which support acircular, or segmental, or other properly-shaped table or top,C,to whichis attached a central metallic disk, D.

The frame of the switch `may be of wood, metal, or other suitablematerial; or may be made partly of wood and partly of metal 3 and may beconstructed in any other shape or manner preferred; and may be incasedfrom the weather or accident by metal or other casings T, suitablyarranged to give access to the works, and allow a key to be insertedfrom the outside to wind the works.

The switch -shaft B extends through and above the top O and disk D,where it is provided with a hand-lever, E, provided on its outer endwith a suitable handle, b, and formed on the bottom with a right-angledor othershaped guide, c, whose horizontal portion extends under the topC, to prevent the upward movement of the lever E, which is preventedfrom going beyond the desired point, on either side, by rabbeted orother stop-blocks j" attached to the top on either side of the table C,through which and the disk D on each side is formed an aperture, d d',to receive and hold, when the lever E is in position, a drop-stein, e',which operates through an aperture formed in the lever E, and is raisedand lowered,so as to release or hold the lever E, by the action of abent hand-lever, j', to which it is pivoted, the said lever f beingpivoted to a vertical bifurcated bearing, g, attached to, or formed on,the lever E, and formed with an under slot to receive and allow theaction of a bent spring, h, attached at one end to the lever E, and atthe other end inl pin ging against the bottom of the forward end ofthelever f,- or the stem e may be otherwise arranged to be raised andlowered 5 or the lever E may be provided with any other locking deviceor devices that may be preferred. Near the stem end of the lever j',projecting upward from the lever E, is a staple or bifurcated standard,E', t@ guide the lever j', and prevent its being raised above thedesired height, and to which staple a padlock or other locking devicemay be connected, to lock the switch when not in use. Beneath the top C,attached to the shaft B by a nut, i, and screw j, or otherwise securedto the shaft so as to be turned by it, is a rod or arm, H, that extendshorizontally a sufficient distance to be brought in contact with andoperate, at the proper time, vertical arms 7c 7o' ot' right-angl edlevers K K', pivoted at their angles to standards G projecting rearwardfrom each side of the upper portion of avertical plate or back board I,that extends between the standards A', and has its upper corners notchedout, or slotted, or is otherwise formed to alloT the up and downmovement ofthe horizontal forwardprojecting arms k" 70"' of the pivotedright-angled levers K K'. Pivoted to a plate, l', secured to the backplate or board I, or pivoted directly to the plate or board I, is ahorizontal lever, L, that is pivoted at one end to a vertical arm, L',formed or arranged. near its bottom, with a latch, l, curving from thetop and bottom concavely toward a central point, or otherwise formed tohit and allow the slipping by of a rod or arm, on, projecting laterallyfrom an arbor, m', supported by a suitable bracket or bea-rings, m",secured to thev back I. The arbor m' is provided with adownward-extending rod or arm, n, having a hammer, a', arranged to beswung, by the action ofthe arbor m', against and from a gong or bell, M,attached to the lower portion of thebaek I. rIhe horizontal arm k" ofthe right-angled lever K is connected with, so as to raise and lower,the lever L and the arm L' as the vertical arm la is brought forward orbackward by the action of the rod or arm H, a vertical spiral or otherspring, N, being attached to theleverL and the back I to hold thelever Ldown when the switch is opened,the said lever being prevented fromdropping beyond its desired position bya stem,o. The forward end of thehorizontal arm or rod L"' of the ri gilt-angled lever K' connects with,so asA to raise and lower, by the contact and release of the arm H withthe vertical arm or rod k", one end of an escapement rod or arm, p,attached at the other end to an arbor, o", turning in the frame AP ofthe clock mechanism, and is bent or otherwise formed to bear upon apinion, q, and hold in check clock mechanism, when the switch is closed,by thel contraction of a vertical spiral or other spring, Q, attached tothe rods or arms 7d and p, and to the back I. Connected with the arm L'is one end of a horizontal lever-arm, It, pivoted at the other end tothe top of a vertical arm, It', which is pivoted at or near its centerto the back I, and at the bottom is pivoted to one end ot' a parallelhorizontal bottom arm, I whose other' end is formed with a lateralprojecting bearing, s, which receives one end ot' a spiral or otherspring, t, supported on a horizontal rod, i', one end ot' which rod isheld in the bearing s, a-nd the other end is held in the projecting armof a right-angled bcarin g, s', attached to the back I, the saidprojecting arm forming a bearing for the other end of the spring t.Extending upward from an arbor, u, turning in `the lower portion'ot theclock-frame I?, is an escapement rod or arm, w, arranged to engage withand disengage from stems e, projecting from the face of aneseapement-wheel, S; and extending downward from the arbor u is an armor rod, w, provided with ahammer, w', arranged to strike against and befreed from the gon or bell M by the action of the arbor a, which isprovided with a spiral or other spring, u', to bring the rods x and wback in position after performing their functions, an upper rod or bar,y, supported by the frame I), preventing the rods or arms x w from goingbeyond their desired positions, and holding one end of the spring a'.

The operation of my invention is as follows: Vhen it is desired to openthe switch, the dropstem c is raised from its aperture d by pressingdown the outer end of the lever f. The vlever E is thus released andswung round over the top or table C, thereby rotating the shaft B, andcarrying with it the arm or rod H, which, as it is brought to t-he otherside of the table C, impinges against, so as to carry back, the verticalarm 7c' and raise the horizontal arm k' of the rightangled lever K',thus lifting the escapement rod or arm p from the pinion q, and settingin motion the clock mechanism, the stems o of the escapement-wheel S ofwhich engage with the escapement-rod x, which turns the arbor u andswings the rod w so as to carry the hammer w' against and from the bellM, thus causing an alarm to be sounded as long 'as the switch is open,the lever E being held in position, when it has reached its terminus,and the switch kept open by the dropping ot' the stem c into theaperture d'.

W'hen desired to close the switch, the stem c is raised from theaperture d', as before, and the lever E, and, consequently, the arml H,are carried back to their original position, the release of the arm Hfrom the arm k' lowering the arm 70"', and causing the arm or rod p tobea-r upon the pinion q, and hold in check the movement of the clockmechanism, the arms p and 7a"' being brought down and held in positionby the contraction ot' the spring Q.

`When the rod or arm 7c" is lowered, by the bringing forward of the armH, it lowers the lever L and arm L', so that when the clock mechanism isnearly run down, the clock-spring, in its expanded state, impin gesagainst the projecting end of the arm R", and carries forward the saidarm It", which operates the vertical arm R' so as to carry backward theupper arm It and bring the arm L' in position to al low its latch l tocn gage with and disengage from the rod m, and operates the arbor m',which swings the rod n and carries the hammer u' against and from thegong or bell M, as the arm L' is raised and lowered by the action of theright-angled lever K, induced by the forward and back passage ot' thearm H; t

thus producing an alarm-signal that warns the operator, when he opensand closes the switch, that the clock mechanism is in a condition to bewound before he leaves the switch g and allowing the roadmaster or otherinspector to know at any time, by merely shoving the lever E a shortdistance forward and back, whether the mechanism is properly attendedto.

Instead of the arm H and the other operaing devices herein described andshown for releasing and holding the clock mechanism, the switch may beprovided with any other suitable arrangement of mechanical devices ordevice that may be preferred for producing the like results by theopening and closing of the switch.

The switch may be provided with any other suitable arrangement ofmechanical devices or device that may be preferred, instead of thoseherein employed, for automatically sounding the gong or bell on theopening and closing of the switch when the clock mechanism is partiallyrun down.-

The clock mechanism maybe arranged to run any length of time desired,and to strike the bell or gong more or less frequently.

Having thus fully described my improvements, what I claim as myinvention, and desire to have secured to me'by Letters Patent, 1s-

1. The sliding arm R, having a bent end or projection, S, in combinationwith a coiled spring,'R and It, lever L, provided with latch l, and thehammer-tail of an alarm, substantially as described, and for the purposespeciiied.

2. In a switch-signal, a sliding rod having a projection adapted andarranged to receive motion from the expansion of a clock-spring as itbecomes uncoiled, and give notice thereof by operating a signal.

3. The combination of the shaft B, having the horizontal arm H, angularlever K, lever L, arm L', having the latch l, arms 'R It It, spring t,arm m of the hammer u, and clockspring w, all arranged and operatin gsubstantially as described.

4. The combination of the table C, shaft B, lever E, arm H, right-angledlever K', rod p, spring Q, and back I, with the clock mechan ism,consisting of the rod or arm fr, arbor u, rod w, hammer w', and bell M,as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses. i

ALFRED G. GARRATT.

IVitnesses CARROLL D. WRIGHT, SAML. M. BARTON.

